Image source, Reuters

Lars Jørgensen has concluded a congressional committee hearing where he was grilled for over two hours about the high prices his company Novo Nordisk charges for the diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy drugs in the US compared to prices abroad.

Here is a look at some of the key moments.

• Senators repeatedly asked why Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, charges over $1,000 (£746) in the US for the same drug it charges just $92 for in Germany.
• Senator Bernie Sanders accused Jørgensen of treating the US as its "cash cow", arbitrarily charging Americans exorbitantly higher prices for its drugs. "Stop ripping us off," Sanders said.
• On multiple occassions, Jørgensen was asked to commit to lowering prices in the US which he did not commit to, most often replying that he was "in support of" anything that helps patients better access medications.
• Jørgensen said his company had been more focused on "unlocking cures" and less on remedying supply shortages, but said he was currently "committed" to improving manufacturing.
• Addressing cost concerns, Jørgensen said his company offers a patient assistance program to American households earning less than $120,00 (£89,619), "the only company having such a support program", he says.
• Jørgensen reassured lawmakers that the company was not pivoting away from producing life-saving insulin to instead focus on the weight loss ingredient GLP-1, which has been spiking sales. "We are as committed as ever to diabetes," he said.
• Jørgensen was pressed about Novo Nordisk's higher US drug prices on multiple occassions. Sanders told the CEO, "I'm asking you a simple question." After another response from Jørgensen, Senator Mike Braun accused him of "hiding behind opaqueness".

We are ending our live coverage of this hearing. You can read more of our coverage on this topic below.

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The writers on today's page were Brandon Drenon and Natalie Sherman. It was edited by Caitlin Wilson.

Thank you for joining us.

Image source, Reuters

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Who’s really to blame for America’s high drug prices?

Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission, a consumer watchdog agency, offered one answer, announcing a lawsuit against three of the biggest pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, companies that negotiate between insurance companies and drug manufacturers.

It accused them of inflating drug prices – specifically of insulin – alleging that they push to cover drugs that will earn them the biggest rebate, not the ones with the lowest price.

In today’s hearing, however, Senator Bernie Sanders put the focus on the maker of the medicine, Novo Nordisk. What’s more he said those same three PBM firms had committed to him that they would expand coverage if Novo lowered its price.

That kind of move would undercut the FTC’s argument. But no matter who’s to blame, patients shouldn’t hold their breath for lower prices anytime soon.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

There’s plenty of room for disagreement over how medicines should be priced.

But the game-changing impact that Wegovy and Ozempic have had on Novo Nordisk is not in question.

Sales have surged since the launch of the drugs - up 26% in 2022, 31% in 2023, and the company projects another leap of at least 22% this year.

In 2023, it became Europe’s most valuable company, dethroning the luxury conglomerate LVMH.

This year, its market value - what its shares are worth - surpassed the value of Denmark's gross domestic product - all goods and services produced in the country.

Competitors are starting to nip at the heels of Novo Nordisk. But at the moment, the major factor limiting the firm's growth is its ability to make the medicine fast enough.

Before the hearing ended, Senator Mike Braun asked Jørgensen: "Why don't you charge them more in Europe?"

This line has often been repeated today, and Jørgensen has mostly responded by saying the situation is more complicated than the question implies.

"The price differential you mention is not the real differential, that is part of the problem," Jørgensen says in response.

Before he can finish, Braun cuts him off saying: "You're hiding behind opaqueness."

The Senate questioning of Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen has ended.

Stick with us as we bring you more updates and analysis.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine says that the US government has perhaps been missing the biggest culprit for high prices by focusing too much on drugmakers rather than pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

PBMs - the intermediaries between insurance companies and drug manufacturers - are "super-duper profitable", Kaine says, but is "not doing any research and not producing any life saving innovations".

"One industry produces life-saving treatments. One doesn't," he says.

He says PBMs are "a huge part of this problem that afflicts the everyday Americans trying to afford prescription drugs".

We are letting them get away "scot-free", he says.

Michelle Roberts
Digital health editor

Image source, Getty Images

Like any drug, there can be side effects with GLP-1s. Common ones include feeling or being sick and having diarrhoea.

But for some people there can be more serious complications, such as inflammation of the pancreas and gall bladder problems.

And doctors are concerned about the growing numbers of patients they're seeing with complications from taking weight loss drugs they have bought online, without clinical supervision.

In many cases people might not actually be getting what they think they are, which is really dangerous.

Senator Mitt Romeny pushes back against the calls from other senators asking Novo Nordisk or other drugmakers to lower prices, calling it a "fantasyland" to ask companies to push forward innovations while keeping prices low.

Romney says "under our system" companies should be able to "get as big a profit as you can possibly get".

He mentions that companies have responsibility to shareholders, adding that he doesn't see many drug innovations coming from countries that limit drug prices.

Romney is a Republican whose conservative politics often emphasises less government intervention in economics.

He then lobs a question at Jørgensen about drug prices overall, and why Americans seem to be charged more than patients in other countries.

"Why are we so out of align with the rest of the world in terms of the pricing that comes from the industry?" Romney asks.

Senator Maggie Hassan pointedly asks Novo Nordisk's CEO: "Would you please commit to lowering the list price of these drugs?"

This question has been repeatedly aimed at Lars Jørgensen throughout the hearing, now passing the 90-minute mark.

"Anything that helps patients get access and affordability, we are in support of," Jørgensen responds.

Jørgensen does not, however, commit to lowering prices.

Senator Bernie Sanders follows up shortly after: "Are you prepared to substantially lower the list prices in the US?"

Image source, Getty Images

Demand for these GLP-1 drugs, which arrived to the US in 2017, has greatly intensified over the last few years, creating recurrent shortages and leaving many of those in need stranded.

Novo Nordisk has said total weekly prescriptions for the weight loss version of the medication, Wegovy, have more than doubled since January.

The lack of supply has been partly driven by an uptick in use from patients seeking smaller amounts of weight loss, making it more difficult for the drugs original intended users to access - those facing obesity or Type 2 diabetes.

“We are hopeful that at some point supply will be replenished, but right now it is still hit or miss as far as what patients can get on a regular basis,” Brigid Groves, a vice-president at the American Pharmacists Association, has said.

Senator Tammy Baldwin asks if Novo Nordisk is shifting focus away from manufacturing insulin - a life-saving drug for those facing Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes - to instead focus on GLP-1, the weight loss ingredient that's spiking sales.

Jørgensen says: "We are committed as ever to diabetes. We are one of very few companies who are still doing research in insulin," saying his company - which began as an insulin maker - will continue to manufacture that medication

He then notes "there is a market now where insulin pricing is going down dramatically. I'm concerned about the long-term supply of insulin".

"It's becoming difficult for new companies to get in," he says.

He says challenges on manufacturers to enter the market are limiting production and driving up prices.

"This system is not working," he says.

Later, Senator Maggie Hassan notes that Novo Nordisk earlier this year discontinued insulin drug levemir, which she says is one of the only insulin drugs approved to take during pregnancy.

She asks whether Novo Nordisk will work with another company to help them start making levemir.

Jørgensen says it was not an "easy" decision to stop making the drug. There haven't yet been any companies interested in taking up manufacturing of levemir, he adds.

Jørgensen says his company offers a patient assistance program to American households earning less than $120,000 (£89,619).

He says patients with Type 2 diabetes that meet the requirement can contact Novo Nordisk directly for financial assistance.

"We're the only company having such a support program," he says.

Later, New Mexico Senator Ben Luján asks: "Why don't you just sell the drug at the coupon price if you're willing to give people a coupon that can't afford it, instead of that list price that we see on that board?"

Michelle Roberts
Digital health editor

Image source, Getty Images

Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk makes both Ozempic and Wegovy.

Runaway sales of both drugs has led to surging earnings for the company. At the end of January 2024 it announced that its annual net profit, external had jumped by 51% to 83bn Danish kroner ($12bn; £9.6bn).

Ozempic is now the world's biggest-selling diabetes drug.

Second-quarter profit for Wegovy missed expectations though, external.

The company says it has been trying to increase manufacturing to meet high demand for the drug.

Image source, Reuters

Sanders has repeatedly asked Jørgensen why prices for the drugs in the US are significantly higher than in places like Germany.

"Please tell me why you think it is appropriate to charge Americans nine times more for the same exact product they sell in Germany," Sanders says.

Jørgensen, so far, has mostly declined to answer the senator directly, saying that many Americans pay only $25 at the pharmacy for a month's supply of their drugs.

This draws frustration from Sanders, who says that Americans are indirectly paying more for these drugs than other patients in Europe and Canada through high insurance costs.

"I'm a great respecter of the people of Denmark," Sanders says.

"But I'm asking you a simple question, as a decent human being."

In Novo Nordisk CEO's opening statements, he says the company's primary focus has been on curing disease and less on mastering manufacturing.

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen says "this ensures that our time and resources are focused on unlocking cures for chronic diseases, not on daily stock fluctuations".

He then adds: "We know these discoveries are only effective if patients can access them.

"So along with discovering revolutionary medicines, we have committed to" improving manufacturing and capacity.

Image source, EPA

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Novo Nordisk's CEO, is delivering his opening statement.

He says his company was working to expand manufacturing to meet the supply shortage faced in the US.

"Patients living with Type 2 diabetes and obesity can't wait another 50 years," he says, referring to the length of time it has taken his company to expand manufacturing to reach this point.

"That is why, since the beginning of last year, we have committed over $30b to expand manufacturing capacity," he said.

"In perspective, this is 20% more than the entire US space program."

He says he Novo Nordisk is driven by a focus on health, not daily stock prices.

No company can solve the vast structural issues in the US health system alone, Jørgensen says. I "promise" Novo Nordisk will "stay engaged" on helping to address these issues, he adds.

Now Republican Senator Bill Cassidy says there are "serious questions" about the high costs of these drugs in the US compared to abroad, but says he also doesn't want to hinder pharmaceutical innovation.

He expressed the need "to balance this tension between innovation and affordability".

Image source, US Senate

Senator Bernie Sanders calls drugs Ozempic and Wegovy "transformative new treatments" and said they're some of the "best-selling and most profitable drugs in the history of the pharmaceutical industry".

The issue is that Novo Nordisk is price-gouging Americans, Sanders claims, adding that 70% of the company's revenue from these drugs comes from the US.

Although prices for the drugs in some countries in Europe are less than $100 (£74), in the US it can cost over $1,000.

Sanders called the US "Novo Nordisk's cash cow".

Why does the company charge Americans "such outrageously high prices?" he asks.

Lives could be saved if these drugs were more affordable, Sanders says.

"Outrage" over high prescription drug prices is not a partisan issue, he adds.

Americans are "sick and tired" of paying high prices for their medications he says.

Asking people to pay the current prices for Ozempic and Wegovy could "bankrupt" the public healthcare payer for seniors, Medicare, Sanders says.

"Treat the American people the same way that you treat people all over the world. Stop ripping us off," he says to Jørgensen.